"We sent the invitation last week for proposals and responses are due by the end of November," said Herbert Moos, deputy president and chairman of the management board of VTB Bank.
The deal should go well, said bankers who pointed at the success of rival Russian bank Sberbank’s $1.5bn three year deal that was signed on October 19 at 190bp all-in.
"While no one in Russia can compete with Sberbank, I would definitely put VTB closer to them than someone like Gazprombank," said a senior loans banker. "We’re expecting the final deal to be on or around what Sberbank achieved."
VTB is hoping for pricing that matches or betters Sberbank’s, with broadly similar parameters in terms of size and maturity.
Gazprombank launched its $600m one year loan at 275bp all-in in July. It has since reduced both pricing and amount to 200bp all-in and $500m.
But other loans officials are not so welcoming to the idea of another Russian bank borrower targeting such tight pricing. "At that price there can only ever be very limited interest from a primary perspective," said one senior loans banker. "But our relationship guys are having a field day."
Elsewhere in Russia, private bank Promsvyazbank signed a $401m-equivalent one year loan at the end of October.
VTB’s last syndicated loan was a $3.13bn three year unsecured loan signed in July 2011.
ING and SMBC co-ordinated the deal. BNP Paribas, Barclays Capital, Bank of America Merrill Lynch, BTMU, China Development Bank Corp, Citigroup, Commerzbank, Crédit Agricole, Credit Suisse, Deutsche Bank, Goldman Sachs, ING, JP Morgan, Mizuho, Morgan Stanley, Royal Bank of Scotland, Société Générale, SMBC and Wells Fargo were mandated lead arrangers.